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University of
al-Karaouine
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Jāmi`at al-Qarawīīn
(جامعة القرويين) |
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Interior of al-Karaouine Mosque and university;
note the similarity of the architecture to theAlhambra (الحمراء)
|
|
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Established |
Mosque 859[1] |
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Type |
Madrasa or University (859 to 1963) State university since 1963[2][3][4] |
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Religious affiliation |
Sunni |
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Location |
Fes, Morocco |
|
Campus |
Urban |
The University
of al-Karaouine or al-Qarawiyyin (Arabic: جامعة
القرويين)
is a university located
in Fes, Morocco.
The al-Karaouine mosque was founded by Fatima
al-Fihri in
859 with an associated school, or madrasa,
which subsequently became one of the leading spiritual and
educational centers of the historic Muslim
world.
It was incorporated into Morocco's modern state university system in
1963. It is the oldest existing and continually operating educational
institution in the world according to UNESCO and Guinness
World Records[5] and
is sometimes referred to as the oldest university, although some
scholars dispute whether the term can be properly applied
historically to institutions outside the European model.[6]
Background
Successive
dynasties expanded the al-Karaouine mosque until it became the
largest in Africa,
with a capacity of 22,000 worshipers.[7] Compared
with the Hagia
Sophia in Istanbul or
theJameh
Mosque in Isfahan,
the design is austere. The columns and arches are plain white; the
floors are covered in reed mats, not lush carpets. Yet the seemingly
endless forest of arches creates a sense of infinite majesty and
intimate privacy, while the simplicity of the design complements the
finely decorated niches, pulpit and outer courtyard, with its superb
tiles, plasterwork, woodcarvings and paintings.
The
present form of the mosque is the result of a long historical
evolution over the course of more than 1,000 years. Originally the
mosque was about 30 meters long with a courtyard and four transverse
aisles. The first expansion was undertaken in 956, by Umayyad Caliph
of Córdoba, Abd-ar-Rahman
III.
The prayer hall was extended and the minaret was
relocated, taking on a square form that served as a model for
countless North African minarets.
At this time it became a tradition that other mosques of Fes would
make the call to prayer only after they heard al-Karaouine. In the
minaret of al-Karaouine mosque there is a special room, the Dar
al-Muwaqqit,
where the times of prayer are established.
The
most extensive reconstruction was carried out in 1135 under the
patronage of the Almoravid ruler
sultan Ali
Ibn Yusuf who
ordered the extension of the mosque from 18 to 21 aisles, expanding
the structure to more than 3,000 square meters. The mosque acquired
its present appearance at this time, featuring horseshoe arches and
ijmiz frames decorated with beautiful geometrical and floral
Andalusian art, bordered with Kufic
calligraphy.
In
the 16th century, the Saadis restored
the mosque, adding two patios to the northern and southern ends of
the courtyard.
Status as oldest university of the world
According
to Guinness
World Records,
al-Karaouine is the oldest existing educational institution in the
world.[8] It
has also been officially recognized by UNESCO as
the world's oldest university.[9]
History
Madrasa
Al-Karaouine
was founded with an associated school, or madrasa,[1][10][11][12] –
described in some sources as a
university[12][13][14][15][16][17][page needed][18][19] –
in 859 by Fatima
al-Fihri,
the daughter of a wealthy merchant named Mohammed Al-Fihri. The
Al-Fihri family had migrated from Kairouan (hence
the name of the mosque), Tunisia to Fes in
the early 9th century, joining a community of other migrants from
Kairouan who had settled in a western district of the city. Fatima
and her sister Mariam, both of whom were well educated, inherited a
large amount of money from their father. Fatima vowed to spend her
entire inheritance on the construction of a mosque suitable
for her community.[20]the
adjacent madrassah is also the oldest madrassah in history.[21]
In
addition to a place for worship,
the mosque soon developed into a place for religious instruction.
Al-Karaouine
gained the patronage of politically powerful sultans.[when?] It
compiled a large selection of manuscripts that were kept at a library
founded by the Marinid Sultan Abu
Inan Faris in
1349. Among the most precious manuscripts currently housed in the
library are volumes from the famous Al-Muwatta of Malik written
on gazelle parchment,
the Sirat
Ibn Ishaq,
a copy of the Qur'an given by Sultan Ahmad
al-Mansur in
1602, and the original copy of Ibn
Khaldun's
book Al-'Ibar.[22] Among
the subjects taught, alongside the Qur'an and Fiqh (Islamic
jurisprudence), are grammar, rhetoric, logic, medicine, mathematics,
astronomy.
The
twelfth century cartographer Mohammed
al-Idrisi,
whose maps aided European
exploration in
the Renaissance is
said to have lived in Fes for some time, suggesting that he may have
worked or studied at Al Karaouine. The madrasa has produced numerous
scholars who have strongly influenced the intellectual and academic
history of the Muslim world. Among these are Ibn
Rushayd al-Sabti (d.
1321), Mohammed
Ibn al-Hajj al-Abdari al-Fasi (d.
1336), Abu
Imran al-Fasi (d.
1015), a leading theorist of the Maliki school
of Islamic
jurisprudence, Leo
Africanus,
a renowned traveler and writer. Pioneer scholars such
as Al-Idrissi (d.1166
AD), Ibn
al-Arabi (1165-1240
AD), Ibn
Khaldun (1332-1395
AD), Ibn
al-Khatib, Al-Bitruji (Alpetragius), Ibn
Hirzihim,
and Al-Wazzan were
all connected with the madrasa either as students or lecturers. Among
Christian scholars visiting Al-Karaouine were the Belgian Nicolas
Cleynaerts and
the DutchmanGolius.[22]
State University
At
the time Morocco became a French
protectorate in 1912,
Al-Karaouine had witnessed a decline as a religious center of
learning from its medieval prime.[2] However,
it had retained some significance as an educational venue for
thesultan's
administration.[2] The
student body was rigidly divided along social strata; ethnicity (Arab
or Berber),
social status, personal wealth and the geographic background (rural
or urban) determined the group membership of the students who were
segregated on the teaching facility as well as in their personal
quarters.[2] The
French administration implemented a number of structural reforms
between 1914 and 1947, but did not modernize the contents of teaching
likewise which were still dominated by the traditional worldviews of
the ulama.[2] At
the same time, the student numbers at Al-Karaouine dwindled to a
total of 300 in 1922 as the Moroccan elite began to send its children
instead to the new-found Western-style colleges and institutes
elsewhere in the country.[2]
In
1947, Al-Karaouine was integrated into the state educational
system,[23] but
it was only by royal
decree after
independence, in 1963, that the madrasa was finally transformed into
a university under the supervision of the ministry of
education.[2][3][4] The
old mosque school was shut down and the new campus established at
former French Army barracks.[2] While
the dean took
its seat at Fez, four faculties were
founded in and outside the city: a faculty of Islamic
law in
Fez, a faculty of Arab studies in Marrakech and
a faculty of theology in Tétouan,
plus one near Agadir in
1979. Modern curricula and textbooks were introduced and the
professional training of the teachers improved.[2][3] Following
the reforms, Al-Karaouine was officially renamed "University of
Al-Karaouine" in 1965.[2]
In
1975, the General Studies were transferred to the newly founded Sidi
Mohamed Ben Abdellah University;
Al-Karaouine kept the Islamic and theological courses of
studies.
In
1988, after a hiatus of almost three decades, the teaching of
traditional Islamic education at the madrasa of al-Karaouine was
resumed by king Hassan
II in
what has been interpreted as a move to bolster conservative support
for the monarchy.[2]
Historians
of the university, encyclopedias and dictionaries of the Middle
Ages consider
that the university (from Latin universitas)
was an institution unique to Christian
Europe,
that the first
universities were
all located in Western
Europe with Paris and Bologna often
cited as the earliest examples,[24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31][32]
These
sources therefore consider that al-Karaouine was founded[1][11] and
run[4][23] as
a madrasah (Arabic: مدرسة)
or a mosque
school until
after World War II. They consider institutions like al-Karaouine to
be higher schools of Islamic
law where
other subjects were only of secondary importance.[33][34][35] They
also consider that the University was only adopted outside the
West,
including into the Islamic
world,
in the course of modernization programmes
since the beginning of the 19th century.[36][37][38][39][40] They
date the transformation of the madrasa of Al-Karaouine into a
university to its modern reorganization in 1963.[2][3][4] In
the wake of these reforms, Al-Karaouine was officially renamed
"University of Al-Karaouine" two years later.[2]
In
contrast according to UNESCO[9] and
a number of other sources, Al-Karaouine is considered to have been a
university since its founding and therefore that it is the oldest
university in
the world.[12][14][15][16][page needed][19] According
to Yahya
Pallavicini,
the university model did not spread in Europe until the 12th century,
and was found throughout the Muslim world from the founding of
al-Karaouine in the 9th century until at least European
colonialism.[41][author missing]
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